Surviving Christmas
by SlaYeRGiRLkaL
Summary: Addison Grey-Shepherd is a world renowned surgeon, wife, mother of five, and the fifth of six Shepherd children, and nothing scares her more than a Christmas visit from her mother


I had this idea for a while, and it's my attempt to write my way out of writer's block since I have another week off from work, it's not my best, but I am trying. I hope to update How Derek Found Out in the next week as well, I hope you enjoy and Merry Christmas

* * *

She was just shy of 40, happily married for nearly 15 years, with 5 beautiful children, she was a successful doctor, a surgeon, and still her mother terrified her. It was December 20th and Addison Grey-Shepherd was expecting her mother to arrive in 2 hours. Her older brother and her wife were at work, leaving her alone with two year old twins and a sleeping infant. Addison was freaking out. She tried to sit down and stabilize her breathing while the baby slept against her chest, but it wasn't working, and just as Addison was nearing total meltdown she heard a key turn in the door.

"Mer," She mumbled when her wife stepped into the room. "What are you doing home?"

"Derek took extremely competent residents into the fellowship program last year. I knew you would be freaking out, so I left work early." Addie couldn't help but smile at her wife's words. The gesture was short lived however as little Abby began to wail and Meredith bent over to take her from her frazzled Mommy. "You're going to give our 5 week old an anxiety attack if you don't relax Addie." The blonde soothed the infant as the redhead tried to compose herself. "Move over," Mer said as she nudged her wife over onto the other side of the sofa so that she could sit down. "We've been through a lot together Addie, we can survive Christmas with your mother."

It was true, the pair had been through a lot together, they'd survived a 7 month long break up after Meredith had chosen to go to Dartmouth, before transferring to Columbia after 3 semesters because she couldn't stand being away from Addison. They had managed to meet Derek's eye again after he'd walked in on them having sex on the couch in Addison's apartment at Harvard the weekend he was staying with her. They had gotten through Meredith drunkenly breaking her hand against Mark's face when she had caught him paying a little bit too much attention to Addison's ass. Mark never let his eyes wander after that. The pair made it through 4 pregnancies together, twins in NICU, and Addison's rocky pregnancy with Abby. There had been hundreds of fights about work. Derek had taken Meredith to the hospital in the middle of a Seattle snow storm, because Addison was in surgery when she went into labour. There was also the Thanksgiving Ellis had, had off, and she and Carolyn Shepherd had a yelling match over the turkey. They made it through their secret wedding, through workplace rumors and snickering. They managed to take care of Ellis through her illness and eventual death. Addison and Meredith survived every bump in the road so far, and while Carolyn Shepherd staying with them for the holiday wouldn't be easy, they could get through it together.

Abby had dozed back off in her mother's more relaxed embrace and Addie had calmed down as Meredith stroked her hand with the pad of her thumb. Addison hadn't always been the strong and independent woman that she was now, and Meredith knew how to handle her wife when she was at her worst. For Addison spending time with her family made her feel like the same insecure teenager she'd been when she met Meredith, and though Addison had become a strong, independent and self assured woman, she still had moments when she felt like that girl, but Meredith was always there to keep her together when she couldn't be the woman she'd become.

"I love you Meredith." The redhead whispered as she placed her head on Meredith's shoulder.

"Love you too Addie." The pair snuggled up with their sleeping infant, and sat in relative silence until Meredith spoke again. "Derek is picking your mother up at the airport when she lands, and your sister will get in tonight, Amelia is going to stay with Derek. The guest room is ready for your mother, all of the gifts are wrapped, and I'm working until 6 Christmas morning," Meredith added the last part quietly, not wanting to further upset her already distressed wife.

"You have the 6-6 shift?" Addie asked and Mer nodded. "I guess we can get through that," Addison added.

"We can get through this Addison. I don't want to miss our little girl's first Christmas, but other doctor's have families too, and not everyone is on maternity leave," Mer added with a small smile. "I know your mother stresses you out, but she wants to see her newest granddaughter, and ask Derek when he's going to marry a nice girl and give her more grandchildren," Addie couldn't help but smile knowing that her wife was right. "I will take care of your mother okay? Everything will be fine, you just have to relax."

"How is it that you always know what to say?" Addison asked.

"We both have Mommy issues, that's why we're perfect together," Mer said sticking out her tongue much to Addison's amusement. "And that's why we're such great moms." They were silent for a moment before Meredith continued. "You know if my mother was still alive I'd stick her on you right?" Addison nodded against Meredith's shoulder and chuckled softly. "This is only going to be for a week, and then maybe we can ship the kids off to Derek for the night and I can give you a massage and we can get a sexy bubble bath with scented candles and music, and fluffy robes and warm bed sheets afterwards." Addison sighed in response.

"You know me so well Mer."

* * *

Meredith came home from work at 6:30 Christmas morning, only to find her mother in law making breakfast, with the baby monitor next to her on the countertop next to the stove. Carolyn didn't even notice that Meredith was home until Abby began to cry, and Meredith said that she would go and take care of it. The baby's crib was in Addison and Meredith's bedroom while the house was in holiday chaos, and Addison had already woken up to get their little girl when Meredith made her way up the stairs.

"Hey," Mer murmured as she wrapped her arms around her wife.

"Hey yourself," Addison mumbled as she leaned into the embrace. "Next year I'm going to work Christmas Eve and leave you with toy construction duty," Addison whispered as she soothed the little one. Meredith whispered an "oops" before bursting into a fit of giggles. "I'm onto your tricks Grey," Addie continued as her wife continued to giggle shamelessly. "You're lucky that Mark came over to help," Addison added.

"It sounds like you had a stressful night, so why don't you get back into bed and let me go and feed our daughter." Addie turned around and smiled before handing little Abby to her Mommy and crawling back into bed.

When Meredith made her way back to the kitchen Carolyn was busying herself by mixing pancake batter. The older woman turned around as Meredith fed the little one her bottle.

"She's just like her mother," Carolyn said, startling Meredith. The blonde looked at her mother in law curiously. "Addison wasn't a fussy baby, she was quite quiet, always made me a little nervous, and Abby is attached to you, just like her Mommy," She added with a small smile. "Addison looks like she's about to have an anxiety attack with her, but she's completely relaxed with you. Babies can sense when you're anxious or afraid." Carolyn paused, and when she spoke again it was as if she was finally letting out feelings that had been trapped inside for far too long. "It's not exactly a secret that we didn't plan on having Addison. Derek wasn't even 5 months old when we found out, and he was quite the handful, as soon as he could crawl around he was into everything. Six children and between all of those pregnancies the one with Addison was the worst, and then she was born, and infants are needy and Derek needed attention and I was always anxious. Her father did everything for her, fed her in the middle of the night, changed her, held her, looked after her when she was sick, everything, she was attached to him much like Abby is attached to you right now," Carolyn said offering a weak smile.

"When Derek was 5 and Addison was 4, they got into a fight over a toy, and Derek told Addie that we didn't want her. She believed him and ran off and packed her backpack up and was ready to leave when her dad found her. He always knew what to say to her, how to talk to her, and when he died," Carolyn had tears in her eyes, "I couldn't look at her. It's awful, five daughters and she was his favorite, every time I looked at her I saw him, and Derek took care of her because I couldn't. They were two peas in a pod until you came along. Derek had the biggest crush on you," She laughed. "Wouldn't shut up about you at dinner, Amelia would roll her eyes and Mark used to tease him, and then he found out about you and Addie. He was slamming doors, refusing to look at her, throwing snow balls at her when she got home from school for at least a week." Carolyn said nostalgically. "Mark told him you two were crazy about each other and he calmed down when he realized you were. You two were practically attached at the hip and then you had that little hiccup before getting back together and when you ran off and got married, without tell us you nearly gave your mother and I heart attacks." Meredith remembered telling Derek a week after graduation that she and Addie were going to get married.

_"Derek, Addie and I are getting married." Derek had stared at me in shock as the words passed through my lips, and he seemed incapable of saying anything, so I continued. "We don't want a big wedding, and I'm starting med school and Addie is starting her residency in a few weeks, and I can't be without her again," I tried to explain. "I love her so much, I'd go to the end of the world for her, and I want her to know that no matter how hard things get, I'm in this, I love her. Please say something Derek." He reached out and grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently in his own._

_"The last thing my dad ever said to me, was to take care of Addie," He whispered. There were tears in his eyes as he spoke, but he was also smiling. "If you want to marry my sister you have to promise me you'll take care of her," Derek said, "My father told me to promise him that I would take care of her, and now I'm asking you to promise me," He continued and I nodded._

_"Of course I will." We embraced and the rest was history, Addie and I ran off and were married the next day. I had to put my mother in an assisted living facility when we returned from our honeymoon._

Meredith was so lost in her own memories that it took her a while to realize that Carolyn was speaking again. "If Addison has taught me anything, it's that the best things in life aren't planned," She finished with a watery smile. The older woman turned and saw her daughter standing in the doorway and without a second thought she reached out to her, embracing her in a vice like hug. "I love you Addie and I am so proud of you, I've always been so proud of you, and I know that your father is too. I feel like I never get to see you and your brother anymore, I didn't mean for my visit to stress you Addison, I just wanted to spend time with my grandchildren, and your brother's apartment is only a small step up from that trailer he used to live in," Carolyn chuckled.

"Let me make breakfast, go call your brother and sister, and Mark, I want to meet this Izzie girl he's seeing, and my grandchildren, they have to open presents," Carolyn began pushing them out of the kitchen, strategically grabbing her camera as she went. Her daughter and her wife and their infant were standing in the doorway where a piece of mistletoe hung and just as the couple kissed with their baby between them the older woman snapped a picture. They were grinning when they parted and Carolyn continued shooing them out of the kitchen.

"Think we'll make it through the rest of the day?" Meredith asked and Addison smiled and nodded. "Twenty years from now maybe we'll be driving our children crazy visiting them for Christmas," Meredith added.

"Maybe, but let's get through this Christmas first," Addie responded before running up the stairs with newfound excitement for the day.


End file.
